About the visit of the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria, Alibek Bakayev, to the federal state of Styria

Graz, December 20, 2022 – The Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Austria, Alibek Bakayev paid a working visit to the federal state of Styria, during which he held meetings with representatives of official and business circles.

This region of Austria has accumulated extensive experience in the development of clusters of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, automotive and electronics industries, the chemical industry, scientific and technological innovations, telecommunications, renewable energy sources, the food industry, and tourism.

At a meeting with the Head of Styria, Christopher Drexler, the parties noted that the meetings of the heads of the two states, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Alexander Van der Bellen, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September this year as well as Foreign Ministers Mukhtar Tileuberdi and Alexander Schallenberg in Lodz in early December this year on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council gave an additional impetus to Kazakh-Austrian relations.

The interlocutors discussed the prospects for the development of bilateral relations between Styria and the East Kazakhstan region, as well as between the cities of Almaty and Graz (the capital of Styria) on the basis of memorandums of cooperation.

In order to give greater momentum to interregional cooperation, the parties discussed a number of events for the upcoming 2023. Among them are regular meetings of the Kazakh-Austrian Intergovernmental Commission (IPC) and the Kazakh-Austrian Business Council (KABC), which are scheduled to be held in the city of Graz.

At the meeting with the President of the Economic Chamber of Styria, Josef Herk, the Kazakh diplomat got acquainted with the activities of the organization and the main economic indicators of the region. In turn, Mr. Bakayev informed about economic reforms and state support measures for foreign investors in Kazakhstan. As part of the possible holding of these meetings of the IPC and KABC, the parties agreed to contribute to the quality preparation of events.

During a visit to the world's largest company for the development, modeling and testing of powertrains for vehicles AVL List GmbH, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan discussed with the owner of the enterprise Helmut List the prospects for implementing a vehicle certification project in Kazakhstan. The Austrian businessman noted the pace of development of the automotive industry in Kazakhstan and the growing interest of international business in the light of the current geopolitical situation.

During the visit, Mr. Bakayev also met with students of Kazakhstan studying at the universities of Styria, and also took part in an official reception organized by the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Graz, Dr. Günter Nebel on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Kazakhstan. During this event, compositions by famous Kazakhstani and European composers were performed by young Kazakh musicians.